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And so . . . the holiday season is upon us. The Christmas decorations have been in the stores for weeks, the music is on the radio . . . and what if you just . . . don’t . . . feel it. A visitor to the blog writes in . . . . . . → Read More: Holiday Blues (Part I)–a Thanksgiving message for us all  One comment - (Comments are closed)  anxiety, depression, parenting, relationships, therapy  depression, holiday blues, Thanksgiving All of a sudden, people have started showing up in the office with MRSA. It is freaking people out . . . completely. There have been calls for specialized cleaning services to come to the office and disinfect and decontaminate. Therapists are voicing hesitancy about seeing certain patients. There was even a recommendation by someone . . . → Read More: The Plague comes to visit . . . MRSA hysteria and the need to get back to work When well meaning advocates for kids with mental health issues speak of “labeling” a kid . . . one of the “labels” that they talk about is Oppositional Defiant Disorder, aka ODD. This is an issue that goes way back to when the disorder was first characterized and diagnostic criteria were formalized. The criteria for . . . → Read More: Oppositional Defiant Disorder Comments are closed ADHD, anger/irritability, anxiety, depression, medication, relationships anger, Oppositional Defiant Disorder OK gang . . . its October!!! You know what that means????? It time to . . . MEET THE TEACHERS!!!! I don’t mean that passing by at the end of “back to school night” thing where you ask “how’s Raoul doing?” What do you think the teacher is going to say “Oh my GOOOODDDDD, . . . → Read More: Time to meet with the teachers!!! Comments are closed ADHD, anger/irritability, anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, relationships, school issues Erin writes in with a very common question: I am coming off Klonopin. I am currently at .25mg. and have been for three nights. Does the withdrawal symptoms have a peak and then they get better? I really want to stick it out but I am feeling pretty crappy. There are a number of . . . → Read More: Klonopin withdrawal or re-emergence of anxiety??? 15 comments - (Comments are closed) anxiety, benzodiazepines, medication, medication side-effects, withdrawal symptoms There comes a time in my work with some of my patients that I have to stand back and say . . . “what are you doing???” When patients come in with a cascade of difficult problems, the knee jerk reaction is to change the medicine. Initially, this might be adding an antidepressant (say . . . . → Read More: Trial of no medicine–knowing when to stop and think 4 comments - (Comments are closed) antidepressants, anxiety, benzodiazepines, depression, medication, medication side-effects, therapy The following comment/question brings up a number of issues that are important. I reprint the following without editing . . . I have been on effexor xr for a long time. it’s the only thing that works. I recently spiked a high BP. I thought I might be going through perimenpausal symtoms. I think . . . → Read More: High Blood Pressure with Effexor Comments are closed antidepressants, anxiety, depression, herbal medicine, medication, medication side-effects A therapist writes in with the following question: I had a disagreement with a psychiatrist. I’d thought that in using SSRI’s to treat anxiety–social phobias, social anxiety, etc.–LOW doses are usually given. (5-10mg of Celexa/day). Treating depression usually requires HIGHER doses, (20-60mg Celexa/day). She maintained that higher doses of SSRI’s are required to treat . . . → Read More: Which requires a higher dose of medicine, anxiety or depression? C. writes in about the difficulty he has getting the right medicine to help his anxiety: I have tried 3 different meds for anxiety – effexor (37.5) , lexapro (10mg) and toprol all have given me severe headaches and I haven’t taken any meds in six weeks and I continue to have severe headaches . . . → Read More: More side effects than help for anxiety 2 comments - (Comments are closed) antidepressants, anxiety, benzodiazepines, medication, medication side-effects In responce to my blarticle about the limits of usefulness of Klonopin, e-chimp writes in with the following barrage of thought provoking questions and comments: What’s your opinion on the thin line between mis-use and self-medication? Say someone’s prescribed a small supply of 2mg diazepam, finds that this dosage does nothing and adjusts it . . . → Read More: Benzodiazepines and the art of self adjusting medications–how to drive your psychiatrist bananas |
   
Dr. Daniel G. Hartman, aka The Sidewalk Psychiatrist, manages and works at The Philmont Guidance Center, just outside Philadelphia. Learn more about Philmont Guidance Center. |
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